Dean Shapiro | Washington University

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A visionary leader | Newsroom | Washington University in St. Louis

1/9/14 5:04 PM

(http://www.wustl.edu)

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A visionary leader Larry J. Shapiro guides the University through the next era of medicine May 20, 2004

By Kimberly Leydig

With Brookings Hall standing sentinel in the spring sun, then-University Chancellor Thomas H. Eliot presented an aspiring young scientist his bachelor’s degree 36 years ago. After a 30-year career as an internationally renowned pediatric geneticist, Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., came full circle when he returned home to Washington University last summer to assume the positions of vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. Now, as dean, he urges the University to build upon its solid scientific strengths and to lead the way in a second genetic revolution: “At the heart of what we should be doing is taking all of our advances in DNA sequencing, genetic analysis, imaging and other technologies and bringing them to the patient’s bedside.” A developmental biology class at the University taught by Viktor Hamburger and Nobel laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini sparked Shapiro’s interest in biomedical science. “The course changed my life,” he says. “It exposed me to new concepts and important fundamental questions. However, no one could have predicted then most of the things we now do on a daily basis. Completing the sequence of the human genome wasn’t imaginable when I was a medical student.” Already infused with the infinite possibilities of genetics, Shapiro was inspired to continue studying the nascent field by another University professor, William Sly, M.D., his longtime mentor. Sly was impressed by Shapiro’s brilliance, enthusiasm and voracious interest in genetics.

PHOTO BY BOB BOSTON

Larry J. Shapiro, M.D. (right), congratulates graduating medical students at Commencement last year. “Our students are absolutely spectacular,” he says. “Besides being very bright, they are also refreshingly idealistic, and most of them have come to medical school for the right reasons. It’s usually students who ask the most insightful questions and inspire you to think. They prevent you from getting too absorbed in yourself, and they keep you honest.”

“Dr. Shapiro’s breadth of understanding of clinical medicine and human genetics and its importance to medicine make him a great candidate to lead the School of Medicine,” says Sly, now chairman of biochemistry and molecular biology at Saint Louis University. “He has a remarkable ability to remain calm and composed regardless of the circumstances. I always thought these talents would have made him a great leader on the battlefield.” Great role model Even as an undergraduate student, Shapiro’s classmates and Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers foresaw his ability to be a great leader. “Larry was a great role model for our less-studious brothers in the house,” says David T. Blasingame, now the University’s vice chancellor for alumni and development programs. “One of my strongest memories is that Larry wanted very much to go to medical school, and he worked very hard academically to get there. He spent many hours at the library, and he raised the average GPA of the fraternity.” After earning his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University, Shapiro completed a pediatric residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. In 1973, he became a research associate in the Section on Human Biochemical Genetics at the National Institute of Arthritis, file:///Users/kimgordon/Desktop/Record%20Profile%20Dean%20Shapiro.webarchive

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